Sunday, June 22, 2014

The mighty Shovel nose Ray

The last time I caught a large Shovel nose ray was in 1977 off Bedok Jetty. I was using a hand-line in a sampan powered by a 4hp Evinrude. It was a 6 footer, very strong and even when I finally had it in the sampan, it thrashed about violently for a few minutes before I subdued it with a few whacks on the head with a large wooden oar. Of course I thought it looked like a funny shark when it was in fact a Ray.
Yesterday we caught 2 large ones off a wreck in the South China Sea north of Horsburgh in 40m deep water. The first was larger and it took us 3 anglers and all of 55 mins to eventually gaff it onboard. The second Ray was half of the weight and took only 20mins to land it. Here are the pics.

WF with the 2 Rays the next morning

Thank God the crew knew how to gut and prepare the fish

Victory after 55 long minutes. Good thing the 40lb braided line & gear held to the end
      

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